Must Read British Embassy Bangkok warns of the importance of having medical insurance

[jippytum]

Most of the expat retirees have their UK pensions frozen due to government policy. If they received their true entitlement living  in Thailand as UK  retirees  do in places such as the Philippines they might be able to combat the falling pound and better afford insurance

 

 

 

 

[racket]

Make it a REQUIREMENT to purchase a travel and health insurance before obtaining a VISA!

[SunsetT]

1 hour ago, simoh1490 said:

I have read that there is a social services office in T3 at Heathrow which was set up to assist returning expats who have medical problems and are homeless, I know nothing more about this other than I have heard from several sources that it does exist.

 

Being homeless in itself is not a barrier to being eligible for NHS care, as the documents I posted earlier points out. Having a settled residence (or not) is one of several factors any investigation into a patients status would include, the problem is, if you can't end the investigation quickly with a few easy answers, the chances are they will dig deeper. I strongly recommend posters interested in this subject to read the documents I posted because they go along way towards understanding what they are looking for and the thinking behind an investigation, the "notes to investigators" is particularly illuminating in this respect.

Trouble is so many on here jump to false conclusions without bothering to read any of the links provided. All the information is there if you take the trouble to read it.

[baboon]

37 minutes ago, Krataiboy said:

In my own case, which I suspect is not untypical, I worked and paid my taxes for 45 years before retiring to Thailand to be with my Thai wife and child. 

Problem is, the bean counters view this as paid, past tense. Not getting any more out of you? You're no more use to us. Away with you and be grateful for what you're given.

 

Personally I think it is disgusting, but people do insist on voting in a certain political party who make no secret of cut, cut, cutting back. What do they expect, then?

[billd766]

8 minutes ago, baboon said:

Problem is, the bean counters view this as paid, past tense. Not getting any more out of you? You're no more use to us. Away with you and be grateful for what you're given.

 

Personally I think it is disgusting, but people do insist on voting in a certain political party who make no secret of cut, cut, cutting back. What do they expect, then?

 

Sadly I am still paying income tax and have been for age 15 1/2 and will be until I die. Me living in Thailand cost the NHS nothing but the fact that I should have to pay 150% for medical treatment in the UK sucks.

 

IMHO I can get treatment here in Thailand as good as or better than the UK at a lower price as well as freeing up hospital services such as appointments, beds, medicines etc. It would be cheaper and more efficient if the UK would simply pay the bill in Thailand within certain rules.

[Grusa]

3 hours ago, Vacuum said:

Any stats on that?

All <1 of them.

 

 

[baboon]

12 minutes ago, billd766 said:

It would be cheaper and more efficient if the UK would simply pay the bill in Thailand within certain rules.

Probably, but why do that when they can simply shaft you?

[PEE TEE]

The people who come to the Kingdom should have a travel insurance . it not expensive as it would be if anything happens . for X Pats  some cannot get insurance due to age or medical conditions . Some companies will take on over 70s but the cost is very high . 

i have been in bupa now Aetna . foe a few years and guaranteed (they say ) for as long as you stay alive . The cost is high but little less than other companies i have had quotes for . 

Had to use then 4 years ago due to a dog taking me off the motorbike 10 days in hospital 4 hrs surgery including some plastic   . just short of 500.000 thb They paid up no questions  . very pleased with them  . so its 2 million cover 50 % for accident . last played around  130.000 thb for a year goes up slightly each year . i am 69  

[Torrens54]

Oh but...there was that FERANG HEALTH INSURANCE POLICY, introduced by the previously Elected Thai Government.

Expats dropped their overseas Health Insurance Policies and signed-up for the local one.

THEN...The NEW GOVERNMENT Ditched the Scheme...meaning there are THOUSANDS of Uninsured Ferang who can’t get/afford to buy Insurance due to Age and/or Existing Ailments.

[NoshowJones]

The first paragraph, if you return home to the UK for medical treatment, how does the hospital know that you were even staying in Thailand or any other country. If you are an expat pensioner, and have paid into the NHS all your working life, then you have every right to free medical treatment.

 

If you do not tell the hospital you were living in Thailand, how are they to know, you are not cheating anybody for reasons already mentioned.

[wvavin]

Best of luck for the British holidaying in this exciting and adventurous country.

[NoshowJones]

4 hours ago, helloagain said:

Yes and if you have already been to a hospital for anything slighty as to what is wrong with you they happy to take your money but will not pay out......almost thieves.

Almost????

[Whyamiandwhatamidoinghere]

Hmmm... Sounds like There might be a Thaivisa Health and Travel Insurance soon... 

[DogNo1]

I had an experience somewhat similar to Bangkok Barry's at a premier hospital in Bangkok whose name I dare not mention.  My first experience, the placement of three stents in my heart, went OK but after the procedure and back in the cardiac care unit the call button didn't work and I had a hard time attracting the attention of any of the nurses outside the closed glass door.  I forget what had gone wrong but I did manage to shout and wave my hands until someone came in.  Two years down the line, I needed three more stents and, once again, the door of the cardiac care unit was closed and the call button wouldn't work.  This time I was lying in a pool of blood seeping from the somewhat ragged incision made in my thigh to insert the catheter.  Again, after much shouting and waving, the nurse who was assigned to my care noticed and came in.  A doctor was called promptly and a clamp was applied to stop the bleeding.  My nurse brought in a little table-top bell to use since they apparently couldn't fix the call button.  Even with the bell, it took considerable ringing of the bell to attract attention.  Instead of the first available nurse coming in, they looked around for the nurse assigned to me who took a while to find.  Anyway, I survived and now use a different hospital.

 

There have been long threads about how we oldsters over 70 can best pay for our medical care and the consensus seems to be that it is best to self-insure.  That is set aside the funds that you anticipate you may need (perhaps 1.5 million.)  When the time comes, you can use it but you won't have lost it to an insurance company.  Insurance for people over 65 is so costly and with so many coverage holes and co-payment requirements that it is better to self-fund your medical costs.  While I am in Japan, my care and medicine is covered by Japanese national health insurance.  They will pay for emergencies only when you are out of the country and then only what the treatment would have cost in Japan.  Unfortunately, Japanese hospitals are not very pleasant places to be but they will do major operations at a low cost to JNHI holders.  IMO, one of the best facets of the Japanese Health Insurance system is that it covers medicine, unlike American Medicare which requires an extra premium for "Part D."

 

So if you are over 65 and don't want to pay a lot of money for expensive health insurance, save it in a self-controlled health care fund.

[bert bloggs]

1 hour ago, baboon said:

Problem is, the bean counters view this as paid, past tense. Not getting any more out of you? You're no more use to us. Away with you and be grateful for what you're given.

 

Personally I think it is disgusting, but people do insist on voting in a certain political party who make no secret of cut, cut, cutting back. What do they expect, then?

I take it you mean the Labour party ,as it was them under their then prime minister Tony Blair who fought tooth and nail right up to the E.U court of human rights to ensure that British pensioners DID NOT get early rises on their pensions . just wanted to clarify it .

[yellowboat]

6 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

many of the people it helped last year did not have insurance.

How many is many?  Of the 10K retirees that are over 51 years old, 80% are uninsured.   Some could be too old for insurance.  The best insurance is being polite, being careful, not smoking, not eating crap, not smoking too much and drinking enough water.   

 

During the hight of junta mania, I tried to get insurance in Thailand from a major hospital, my worry was the immigration would not let me in.  The hospital said that was a valid concern.  So I went to Malaysia.   The junta circus just never ends.  One clown after another. 

[baboon]

18 minutes ago, bert bloggs said:

I take it you mean the Labour party ,as it was them under their then prime minister Tony Blair who fought tooth and nail right up to the E.U court of human rights to ensure that British pensioners DID NOT get early rises on their pensions . just wanted to clarify it .

You take it incorrectly.

[hottrader77]

4 hours ago, gamini said:

I have dual nationality. UK and New Zealand. The New Zealand health authorities wrote me a nice reply to my letter assuring me that as a New Zealander I could come back and get subsidised medical treatment. There was no stipulation that I should come back permanently and a few weeks would do.

I have prostate cancer and the  only medicine that works cost about US$12,000 a month. I will get it almost free in New Zealand. Why doesn't the UK treat its nationals the same way. I have paid in a lot of money to the NSH when I worked in England. But now I can't get any treatment.

the uk gov does not help with most things for british nationals but if your an immigrant thats different you can get all the treatment and benefits you need , i have not had a tax refund since the late 1970s -early 1980s and us british were supposed to have bailed the banks out when they nearly went bust in 2009-11 and now the banks are back on sound footing we should get a tax refund but will we get it ? NO CHANCE as those fat elected politicians will see to it that we dont get a penny as they will have their snouts in the trough as was found out recently by the press , one MP even put down he had a mortgage on a property and claimed for it for years only to be found out recently that he did not even have a property and one of us run of the mill people of uk would have gone to prison for fraud for that he only got a rap on the knuckles and told not to do it . Im also concerned that the pound after brexit will fall from 43 baht to 29 baht to the pound in 5 years time thats the latest figures so anyone living in thailand retired or on holiday long term or even short term will have to think long and hard about staying here in thailand as i dont think many pensioners living here in thailand will be able to afford it , so i am already looking for somewhere else to go as are many others 

[Maradona 10]

5 hours ago, kannot said:

No Thanks, paid into NI for 36 years and   never had anything, now Ive left they wont help. If I cant pay I accept i will die.

Money is put aside for emergencies and I dont want the get out clauses many insurance companies  will trump up. Govt never takes care of you anyway so please govt dont tell me what to do, I accept the risk.

Easier to get people to sign a disclaimer on arrival saying  you accept you may die if you have no insurance.

Agreed. This obsession with health insurance is nauseating. Most people I know don't have it, up to them, and no they won't expect any handouts if anything goes wrong.

[faraday]

2 minutes ago, Maradona 10 said:

Agreed. This obsession with health insurance is nauseating. Most people I know don't have it, up to them, and no they won't expect any handouts if anything goes wrong.

Daftest comment of the week

[simoh1490]

2 hours ago, possum1931 said:

The first paragraph, if you return home to the UK for medical treatment, how does the hospital know that you were even staying in Thailand or any other country. If you are an expat pensioner, and have paid into the NHS all your working life, then you have every right to free medical treatment.

 

If you do not tell the hospital you were living in Thailand, how are they to know, you are not cheating anybody for reasons already mentioned.

Eligibility for free NHS treatment is based solely on residency, not on how much you paid into something or other for x years etc. So no, if you don't live in the UK and are not normally resident there, you do not have the right to free care, no matter what happened or what you did  before in your life.

[Maradona 10]

1 hour ago, faraday said:

Daftest comment of the week

Yea just because YOU say so. Do one.

[simoh1490]

1 hour ago, DogNo1 said:

I had an experience somewhat similar to Bangkok Barry's at a premier hospital in Bangkok whose name I dare not mention.  My first experience, the placement of three stents in my heart, went OK but after the procedure and back in the cardiac care unit the call button didn't work and I had a hard time attracting the attention of any of the nurses outside the closed glass door.  I forget what had gone wrong but I did manage to shout and wave my hands until someone came in.  Two years down the line, I needed three more stents and, once again, the door of the cardiac care unit was closed and the call button wouldn't work.  This time I was lying in a pool of blood seeping from the somewhat ragged incision made in my thigh to insert the catheter.  Again, after much shouting and waving, the nurse who was assigned to my care noticed and came in.  A doctor was called promptly and a clamp was applied to stop the bleeding.  My nurse brought in a little table-top bell to use since they apparently couldn't fix the call button.  Even with the bell, it took considerable ringing of the bell to attract attention.  Instead of the first available nurse coming in, they looked around for the nurse assigned to me who took a while to find.  Anyway, I survived and now use a different hospital.

 

There have been long threads about how we oldsters over 70 can best pay for our medical care and the consensus seems to be that it is best to self-insure.  That is set aside the funds that you anticipate you may need (perhaps 1.5 million.)  When the time comes, you can use it but you won't have lost it to an insurance company.  Insurance for people over 65 is so costly and with so many coverage holes and co-payment requirements that it is better to self-fund your medical costs.  While I am in Japan, my care and medicine is covered by Japanese national health insurance.  They will pay for emergencies only when you are out of the country and then only what the treatment would have cost in Japan.  Unfortunately, Japanese hospitals are not very pleasant places to be but they will do major operations at a low cost to JNHI holders.  IMO, one of the best facets of the Japanese Health Insurance system is that it covers medicine, unlike American Medicare which requires an extra premium for "Part D."

 

So if you are over 65 and don't want to pay a lot of money for expensive health insurance, save it in a self-controlled health care fund.

I had my stent implanted at Bumrungrad eight years ago - recovery was in the CCU where there are no doors and there are 1.5 nurses to each patient....the catheter gateway used to penetrate the femoral artery is a one-piece unit, push it and go,

[faraday]

1 minute ago, Maradona 10 said:

Yea just because YOU say so. Do one.

Gosh, you are so lovely.

 

You have boyfriend?

[Bangkok Barry]

Ah, here we go. But it took six pages to reach the stupid, unnecessary, pointless, insulting and off-topic insults. Not too bad, considering. Usually, we don't even get past the first page.

[DogNo1]

Simoh1490:

 

What can I say.  Your experience was different than mine.  My stent placements were done 12 and ten years ago.  Perhaps that explains something.  I'm glad to hear that your procedure went well. 

[simoh1490]

4 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

 

Interesting thread. And for once it's not full of pointless and idiotic comments. I personally wasn't aware of being able to declare one is resident in the UK even if one isn't. 

 

You can't really declare yourself, resident, if you are not, the intent of the rule is that the returning expat is settled on a permanent basis, for the time being. That doesn't mean that an expat can simply show up at Heathrow and say, here I am, I'm settled for the time being, they have to be able to support the claim with evidence - all of this is in the documents/link I posted which goes into great detail about what constitutes proof of a claim...time in country, used a one way ticket to get to the UK, disposed of assets in Thailand, transferred assets to the UK, those things are all components of a persons story they will look at.

[garyk]

Thai Visa is sucking the life out of this. 

Next.

[nickmondo]

just keep a uk address

If you have sold up in the UK, use the address of a friend.

keep a bank account, credit card etc in the UK and have all statements, cards etc sent to that address.

Keep registered with the doctor that you had when you came here.

its not that difficult surely?

[Sheryl]

Yep, have health insurance & the exclusions due to age are ridiculous!! 

Insurers put so many exclusions, benefits are negligible, almost lefty to pay everything yourself!!

 

There are no exclusions due to age (though many insurers have a limit to the age at which you can get a new policy).

 

Exclusions are due to pre-existing conditions -- pre-existing prior to initially taking out the policy.

 

Plus there are some universal exclusions: cosmetic procedures, medical care due to suicide etc etc.

 

 

 

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